Free to Choose Freedom

Never before in history has an imperial nation made such an offer. By simply voting for it, 18 colonies of France inhabited by 30 million people may next week become independent nations. Herewith a report on how the voting is expected to go:

Jolting through the red dust and equatorial heat of the French Sudan, a Land Rover pulled into the tiny village of Fanfie Koro. French Administrative Officer Galliere stepped from the car, greeted the local chief, and solemnly accepted the gift of a white chicken. Speaking through an interpreter, Galliere explained that the chief of the French government, General Charles de Gaulle, had decided to allow Africans to choose fraternal association with France or to refuse it and become independent. He held up sample ballots, told the villagers that a yellow one meant yes, a violet one, no. The villagers seemed astonished that they were offered a choice. Said the chief: "Of course, we intend to remain with France."

In the adjoining colony of French Guinea, people feel differently. In the capital city of Conakry, a once sleepy banana port that is now studded with French-built skyscrapers, Premier Sekou Toure thundered a loud "No!" Cried Sekou Toure: "We will vote no to a community which is just the French Union rebaptized, that is to say, old merchandise with a new ticket. Beginning Sept. 29, we will be an independent country. We will take entire and total responsibility for our affairs."

In French Guinea what Sekou Toure says goes. His political control is so tight and his followers so quick to violence and intimidation that even French observers gloomily expect Guinea to vote no by more than 90%. Yet his outburst was as unexpected as it was final. Some blamed it on a personality clash that occurred on De Gaulle's visit to Conakry last month. Angered by Sekou Toure's public criticism of the new constitution, De Gaulle refused to dine with the Guinean Premier. More important, probably, is Toure's vaulting ambition. He is in close touch with President Kwame Nkrumah of independent Ghana and has a mystic concept of his role in the future greatness of his continent. "All Africa is my problem," he boasts. A Marxist-trained unionist himself, Sekou Toure, 36, envisions a Guinean government in which labor unions will be the prime instruments of administrative power.

Toure had hoped to bring the neighboring Ivory Coast into his labor-union state. But Felix Houphouet-Boigny, political chief of the Ivory Coast and Minister of State in De Gaulle's Cabinet, has no intention of allowing his rich colony to be dominated by Toure's strong-arm union organizers. The Ivory Coast is well-watered, agricultural land with the highest level of prosperity in all French Africa. Houphouet-Boigny, 52, who has come a long way since the days when he was an admirer of Communism, is convinced that its people can advance farther and faster with French technical and financial help than by swerving off into nationalist adventures with his neighbors, French Guinea and Ghana. Says Houphouet-Boigny: "I'll make a date with Ghana in ten years' time."

Sekou Toure's brash words encouraged the constitution's opponents in other areas. Djibo Bakary, another Marxist-trained unionist who heads the government of French Niger, announced that he and his followers were voting no; although he faces strong pro-French opposition, Bakary's stand is enough to move French Niger into the doubtful list. Madagascar, where memories are still alive of the bloody repression of the 1947 revolt, and Senegal, with its potent Communist minority, may go either way. But the bulk of French Africa is expected to follow Houphouet-Boigny's Ivory Coast, vote solidly for association with the France of Charles de Gaulle.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.